n7axw wrote:I have wondered if rather than exposing himself to the consequences cracking the code of the key, Owl could have constructed an AI that was not self aware to take the risk.

Don

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The other problem of course being that it will destroy any data on the Key; which is pretty clearly stated at the start of LAMA in Nahrmahn's covnersation with Owl.

By the way, we build devices like this today. Your credit cards with a chip and your SIM card in your phone (along with a component in your phone) will all self destruct if attempts are made to tamper with them. The protection is both the software and the hardware. If you do not have the right keys to access the data, you will not get it, and if you try the wrong key too many times, the secure enclave will permanently disable itself. Physical attacks and tempest attacks will also fail, the former also resulting in permanent disabling of the enclave.

He's described in this thread (and I think it's from AtSoT, though I don't know the page ref offhand) as "Androcles Schueler," but that was not the first name given to him earlier in the series.

LaMA, Ch. 3 is a discussion between Merlin, Cayleb, and Nahrmahn. Towards the end of the chapter, Nahrmahn mentions that he's done a genetic trace of the Wylsynn family, and confirmed that they do descend from a "Frederick Schueler," with the conversational implication that "Frederick" was the same person as "Archangel Schueler."

I don't know if this has come up before, but it stuck out in my latest re-read.

He's described in this thread (and I think it's from AtSoT, though I don't know the page ref offhand) as "Androcles Schueler," but that was not the first name given to him earlier in the series.

LaMA, Ch. 3 is a discussion between Merlin, Cayleb, and Nahrmahn. Towards the end of the chapter, Nahrmahn mentions that he's done a genetic trace of the Wylsynn family, and confirmed that they do descend from a "Frederick Schueler," with the conversational implication that "Frederick" was the same person as "Archangel Schueler."

I don't know if this has come up before, but it stuck out in my latest re-read.

Yes, in LaMA he's 'Frederick Schueler' and in AtSoT he's 'Androcles Schueler'. In my Kindle edition, 'Androcles' is used on page 689.

If we get a retcon, it will probably be along the lines that Narmahn would have been working from the official record, but Nynian was probably working from Kohdy's diaries. So maybe he's 'Frederick Androcles Schueler', and his friends (like Kohdy) called him Androcles.

But, the important point is that the name change has moved him from a generic name - Frederick - to a significant name.

So how does this Testament fit into the whole story line? The latest post have all centered around the OBS. Hopefully this Testament will be helpful in deactivating the OBS or in informing us about what is under the temple.

His Testimony could tell us so much about how deep the hole is and what is at the bottom of it and just what is "asleep" under the temple. It might shed some light on the Himelcar and were it went.

1- The Lost Testament of Schueler is actually a testament, somewhere in the Temple, that calls into serious questions Langhorne/Bedard/etc in various ways. Well and good.

2- This the more intriguing thought, to me. What if the Key, with its reported 16 peta-bytes of information, is actually a complete "reprogram" for whatever was left behind to return after 1,000 years. That is, Schueler had come to realize that Lnaghorne/Bedard/Chihiro's plan was doomed to eventual failure and extinction and convinced them that a 1,000 year later "awakening" of an Archangel - even if only for a short period of time - would be enough to permanently reset the people onto the path designed for them. After all, the Archangel could stamp out any heresy, kill the most corrupt Vicars, and leave with the message that the world sinks to these depths again another Archangel would return.

So, Schueler then creates the Key, which when presented to the Archangel would reprogram it (by way of buried code that would accept the Key's software as a higher command) to change the course of Safehold. By, for example, shutting down the OBS, renouncing the COGA, introducing science, etc...

3- In the event things are needed sooner, the Key and the Scepter, together, would bring about an earlier "Return" of the Archangel.

While unlikely, I do think something along these lines is plausible. And, at the very least, interesting to contemplate.